40 



For the support of individual forestal investigation and as a 

 link between investigators, a society was formed already in 1909, 

 Suvmen Metsdtietedlinen Seura (Finnish Forest Society), the publi- 

 cations of which, Acta forestalia fennica, now total 21. 



The Significance of the Forests for Finland's Industries 

 and the Trade Balance. 



A great part of the industries of Finland is based on its wealth 

 of forest. The sawmills, veneer, bobbin, box, furniture and other 

 factories, which obtain their raw material from the forests, are ex- 

 tremely numerous. The paper industries, which have developed in 

 the space of twenty or thirty years into one of the most important 

 branches of industry in the country, use but little other fibre than 

 that obtained from wood. The wallpaper, paper-bag and envelope 

 industries thrive, on their part, in the shelter of the paper factories. 



Twine and cloth of paper are modern offshoots of these indus- 

 tries, with perhaps a promising future before them. Comparatively 

 little attention has as yet been paid to the dry distillation of wood, 

 but this should also possess great possibilities of development: the 

 production of tar, turpentine, wood alcohol, acetic acid etc., can be 

 greatly increased. 



The number of sawmills is slightly over 600. Their combined 

 production of sawn timber during the last few years before the world - 

 war was 700 0000 900 000 standards annually. The war affected 

 production unfavourably, but this is at present rapidly rising again. 

 In 1920 there were 25 wood-pulp factories in Finland, their yearly 

 output being aboujb 110000 tons, 24 cellulose factories (annual out- 

 put about 300 000 tons) and 31 paper factories (annual output about 

 220000 tons). 



A good third of the industrial workers of the country depend for 

 their living on these industries. Similarly, the value of their produc- 

 tion is about one third of the gross production of our combined in- 

 dustry. - - The timber industries are the most independent of all 

 Finnish industries. E.g., in 1916, of the total value of the raw material 

 and half -completed products needed by them, only 0.6 % came from 

 abroad. The corresponding figure in the paper industries was 21.7 %, 

 against 71.8 % in the textile industries, 78.2 % in the food and luxu- 

 ries industries, 69.4 % in the engine-shops, and 50.3 % in the total 

 industries. 



The forest industries of Finland depend chiefly on their export, 

 and on the other hand, the export of more or less worked forest 

 products decides the condition of our trade balance. Fig. 9 shows 



